Ilyse Hogue (born August 26, 1969) is an American progressive activist who served as president of
NARAL Pro-Choice America
NARAL Pro-Choice America, commonly known as simply NARAL ( ), is a non-profit 501(c)(4) organization in the United States that engages in lobbying, political action, and advocacy efforts to oppose restrictions on abortion, to expand access to ...
, a reproductive rights
lobbying
In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agency, regulatory agencie ...
and advocacy organization, from 2013 to 2021. In September 2021, she became president of Purpose, a social impact organization.
Early years
Hogue was born in
Dallas, Texas
Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...
, in August 1969.
Her family is
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
.
She graduated from high school at
Greenhill School in
Addison, Texas
Addison is an incorporated town in Dallas County, Texas, in the United States. Addison is situated to the immediate north of the city of Dallas, with a 2020 census population of 16,661. Addison and Flower Mound were the only two Texas municipaliti ...
, before attending
Vassar College
Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...
in
Poughkeepsie, New York
Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsi ...
, where she studied environmental science. She attended graduate school at the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
and later worked as a research assistant at the
University of Montana
The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fal ...
.
At Vassar, she engaged in her first political work in April 1989 when she joined the March for Women's Lives, a demonstration focused on reproductive rights.
Career
Hogue joined NARAL in January 2013. When assuming the role of president, some commentators remarked on her relative youth compared to her sexagenarian predecessor (she was 43 at the time) as an intentional choice on the part of NARAL as it sought to bring a more aggressive approach to defending abortion rights and courting younger supporters.
One of her first moves as president was to build coalitions within the progressive movement with groups that traditionally had little to do with reproductive rights.
She also brought an increased focus on ballot measures, partly in an attempt to force opponents to define what they are in favor of while giving Americans who support abortion rights a platform.
Following
a shooting which occurred at a
Planned Parenthood
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...
clinic in Colorado in 2015, ''
The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' reported on a
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
post of Hogue's in which she was critical of the rhetoric of anti-abortion activists including
David Daleiden
David Robert Daleiden (born 1989) is an American anti-abortion activist who worked for Live Action before founding the Irvine, California-based Center for Medical Progress in 2013.
Early life and family
Daleiden says he is the "child of a cri ...
and
Troy Newman.
Prior to her work for NARAL, Hogue worked for
MoveOn.org
MoveOn (formerly known as MoveOn.org) is a progressive public policy advocacy group and political action committee. Formed in 1998 around one of the first massively viral email petitions, MoveOn has since grown into one of the largest grassroot ...
,
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...
,
Rainforest Action Network,
Media Matters for America, and the
, a campaign-finance reform group founded by
Jonathan Soros
Jonathan Tivadar Soros (born September 10, 1970) is the founder and chief executive officer of JS Capital Management LLC, a private investment firm. Prior to that, Soros worked at Soros Fund Management in daily operations and was co-deputy chairma ...
. She served on the board of ''Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice'', a Jewish social organization.
On November 15, 2016, Hogue announced she was considering running in the
Democratic National Committee chairmanship election, 2017. She ultimately decided not to enter the race.
After eight years serving as president of NARAL, Hogue stepped down from her position on May 28, 2021. In September 2021, she became president of Purpose, a social impact organization.
[
]
Personal life
She is married to John Neffinger, with whom she had twins in 2015.
References
External links
*
*
Biography at Purpose
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hogue, Ilyse
1969 births
20th-century American Jews
American abortion-rights activists
Jewish feminists
Living people
Vassar College alumni
People from Dallas
Texas Democrats
Greenhill School alumni
University of Michigan alumni
21st-century American Jews